So Tiger Isn’t Going to a Major Bowl?

This just in ... Tiger Woods is no longer ranked No. 1 ... unofficially. At least that’s what mathematician Jeff Sagarin has computed in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index Rankings.

Instead of Woods, Vijay Singh is in the top spot, according to Sagarin, whose rankings are an alternative to the Official World Golf Ranking. Woods has held the No. 1 position in that ranking for 312 weeks, the last 242 in a row.

Of course, numbers are just that, and different experts can use them in different ways. Sagarin, an MIT graduate, is best known for his national rankings of college football and basketball.

If you agree with Sagarin that Singh is No. 1 and Woods isn’t, then you probably don’t care that in the final BCS standings released Dec. 7, Sagarin ranked Miami of Ohio third and USC fourth.

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Ratings reminder: Last year’s final-round telecast of the Masters on CBS attracted an estimated audience of 34.5 million, the third-most-watched ever. The top two were Woods’ first and second victories, in 1997 (43 million) and 2001 (40.1 million).

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Business news: The Greater Milwaukee Open has a new name. It will be the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee for the next three years. It is the first name change for the tournament since it began in 1968.

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She tied for 13th at the Kraft Nabisco, but Annika Sorenstam is already one week ahead of last year’s pace, when she won six times. Sorenstam, who won at Phoenix, didn’t get her first victory last year until the Office Depot Championship at El Caballero in Tarzana, where she returns to defend her title this week.

Sorenstam has a chance to make it her 10th successful tournament defense. The others are the U.S. Women’s Open in 1995-96, the Samsung in 1995-96, the Betsy King Classic in 1996-97, the Michelob Light Classic in 1997-98-99, the Welch’s/Circle K in 2000-01, the Kraft Nabisco in 2001-02, the Mizuno in 2001-02-03, the Kellogg-Keebler in 2002-03 and the Safeway Classic in 2002-03.

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JoAnne Carner shot 15 over and tied for 70th at Mission Hills, but she still broke a record -- her own. Carner, a 43-time winner on the LPGA Tour, established another record as the oldest player to make a cut: 64 years, 11 months, 22 days. She had the “old” record two years ago.

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The best way of tuning up for the Masters is anybody’s guess, but Woods, Singh, Davis Love III and Ernie Els aren’t playing the BellSouth this week. Mike Weir, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby are.

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Michelle Wie went back to being a ninth-grader this week in Honolulu, but she won’t stay away from the LPGA Tour for long. Wie has a sponsor’s exemption into the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Va., May 6-9.

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Not that it matters much, but when Wie missed the cut at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open in Hawaii in January, she was still three shots better than Scott, who obviously didn’t let it bother him when he made $1.44 million Sunday by winning the Players Championship.

Showing the value of winning a big tournament, Scott moved up six places in the rankings to No. 12. Padraig Harrington moved from 13th to eighth with his runner-up finish. He is the only European in the top 10.

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Woods and Hank Kuehne will take on Phil Mickelson and John Daly in a best-ball format in the $1.4-million Lincoln Financial Battle of the Bridges to be played Aug. 2 at Rancho Santa Fe. The winning team gets $1 million.

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Driving 4 Life, the ALS fundraising campaign backed by Tom Watson, caddie Bruce Edwards and former touring pro Jeff Julian, is holding a raffle on its website -- www.driving4life.org -- for two tickets for Saturday and Sunday of the Masters. Edwards and Julian have been diagnosed with ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The winner of the tickets will be chosen Friday.